Getting your player ready...
MOSCOW — Russia felt the impact of the Ukrainian crisis on its economy Friday, when ratings agency Standard & Poor’s cut its credit grade for the first time in five years and the central bank raised interest rates to keep the sliding currency from fueling inflation.
S&P said in a statement it dropped Russia’s rating to one level above “junk status” because the tense situation over Ukraine was causing investors to pull money out of the country.
Russia, it warned, “could see additional significant outflows of both domestic and foreign capital from the Russian economy.” S&P said it is keeping a negative outlook, meaning it could downgrade the country again.
